
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap.......... Copyright No. 

Slielt£3.2 
El 



rS97 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS 
BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 



3[aro« WUtcomh Kiltg 



POEMS HERE AT HOME. 

NEGHBORLY POEMS. 

SKETCHES IN PROSE AND 
OCCASIONAL VERSES. 

AFTERWHILES. 

PIPES 0' PAN (Prose and 
Verse). 

RHYMES OF CHILDHOOD. 

FLYING ISLANDS OF THE 
NIGHT. 

OLD-FASHIONED ROSES 

(English Edition). 

GREEN FIELDS AND RUN- 
NING BROOKS. 

ARMAZINDY. 

A CHILD-WORLD. 

AN OLD SWEETHEART OF 
MINE. 



RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS 

/ 

BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 

v 



ILLUSTRATED 

BY i 

C. M. RELYEA 




PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO. 
NEW YORK M DCCC XC VII 

h 



•EOF '■Vns. 

97 )) 
ES RECEIVED 






Copyright, 1897, 
By The Century Co. 

Copyright, 1897, 
By James Whitcomb Riley 



Z-'iVoZJ 



The De Vinne Press. 



TO 



DR. FRANKLIN W. HAYS 

THE LOYAL CHUM OF MY LATEST YOUTH 

AND LIKE FRIEND AND COMRADE STILL 

WITH ALL GRATEFUL AFFECTION OF 



The Author. 



IX 



We FOUND him in that Far-away that yet to us 

seems near — 
We vagrants of but yesterday when idlest youth 

was here, — 
When lightest song and laziest mirth possessed us 

through and through, 
And all the dreamy summer-earth seemed drugged 

zvith morning dew : 



When our ambition scarce had shot a stalk or 

blade indeed : 
Yours, — choked as in the garden-spot you, still 

deferred to " weed " : 
Mine, — but a pipe half-cleared of pith — as now 

it flats and whines 
In sympathetic cadence with a hiccough in the 

lines. 



Aye, even then — O timely hour! — the High Gods 

did confer 
In our behalf: — And, clothed in power, lo, came 

their Courier — 
Not winged with flame nor shod with wind, — 

but ambling down the pike, 
Horseback, with saddlebags behind, and guise all 

human-like. 



X 



And it was given us to see, beneath his rustic 

rind, 
A native force and mastery of such inspiring 

kind, 
That half unconsciously we made obeisance. — 

Smiling, thus 
His soul shone from his eyes and laid its glory 

over us. 



Though, faring still that Far-away that yet to 

us seems near, 
His form, tJirough mists of yesterday, fades from 

the vision here, 
Forever as he rides, it is in retimce divine, — 
The hearts of all his time are his, with your hale 

heart and mine. 




RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS 
BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY 



RUBAIYAT 

OF 

DOC SIFERS 



Ef you don't know DOC SlFERS I '11 jes argy, 

here and now, 
You 've bin a mighty little while about here, 

anyhow ! 
'Cause Doc he 's rid these roads and woods — 

er swum 'em, now and then — 
And practised in this neighberhood sence hain't 

no tellin' when ! 



II 

In radius o' fifteen mile'd, all p'ints o' com- 
pass round, 

No man er woman, chick er child, er team, on 
top o' ground, 

But knows him — yes, and got respects and 
likin' fer him, too, 

Fer all his so-to-speak dee-fects o' genius 
showin' through ! 



Ill 

Some claims he 's absent-minded ; some has 

said they wuz afeard 
To take his powders when he come and dosed 

'em out, and 'peared 
To have his mind on somepin' else — like 

County Ditch, er some 
New way o' tannin' mussrat-pelts, er makin' 

butter come. 













Mil 

if 







I 

s 



IV 



He 's cur'ous — they hain't no mistake about 

it ! — but he 's got 
Enough o' extry brains to make a jury — like 

as not. 
They 's no describin' Sifers, — fer, when all is 

said and done, 
He 's jes hisse'f Doc Sifers — ner they hain't 

no other one ! 



Doc 's alius sociable, polite, and 'greeable, you- 
'll find — 

Pervidin' ef you strike him right and nothin' 
on his mind, — 

Like in some hurry, when they 've sent fer 
Sifers quick, you see, 

To 'tend some sawmill-accident, er picnic jam- 
boree ; 



VI 

Er when the iightnin' 's struck some hare- 
brained harvest-hand ; er in 

Some 'tempt o' suicidin' — where they 'd ort 
to try ag'in ! 

I 've knowed Doc haul up from a trot and 
talk a' hour er two 

When railly he 'd a- ort o' not a-stopped fer 
" Howdy-do ! " 




VII 

And then, I 've met him 'long the road, a- 

lopirf , — starin' straight 
Ahead, — and yit he never knowed me when 

I hollered "Yate, 
Old Saddlebags!" all hearty-like, er "Who 

you goin to kill?" 
And he 'd say nothin' — only hike on faster, 

starin' still ! 



VIII 

I 'd bin insulted, many a time, ef I jes wuz n't 

shore 
Doc did n't mean a thing. And I 'm not 

tetchy any more 
Sence that-air day, ef he 'd a-jes a-stopped to 

jaw with me, 
They 'd bin a little dorter less in my own 

fambily ! 



IO 



IX 



Times now, at home, when Sifers' name comes 

up, I jes let on, 
You know, 'at I think Doc 's to blame, the 

way" he 's bin and gone 
And disapp'inted folks — 'YX-jee-mMW-nee ! you 'd 

ort to then 
Jes hear my wife light into me — " ongrateful- 

est d men ! " 





J *&mm 



13 



x 



'Mongst all the women — mild er rough, splen- 
differous er plain, 

Er them with sense, er not enough to come in 
out the rain, — 

Jes ever' shape and build and style o' women, 
fat er slim — 

They all like Doc, and got a smile and plea- 
sant word fer him! 



XI 

Ner hain't no horse I 've ever saw but what '11 

neigh and try 
To sidle up to him, and paw, and sense him, 

ear-and-eye : 
Then jes a tetch o' Doc's old pa'm, to pat 'em, 

er to shove 
Along their nose — and they 're as ca'm as 

any cooin' dove ! 



14 



XII 



And same with dogs, — take any breed, er 

strain, er pedigree, 
Er racial caste 'at can't concede no use fer 

you er me, — 
They '11 putt all predju-dice aside in Docs case 

and go in 
Kahoots with him, as satisfied as he wuz kith- 

and-kin ! 



XIII 

And Doc 's a wonder, trainin' pets! — He 's 

got a chicken-hawk, 
In kind o' half-cage, where he sets out in the 

gyarden-walk, 
And got that wild bird trained so tame, he '11 

loose him, and he '11 fly 
Clean to the woods ! — Doc calls his name — 

and he '11 come, by-and-by ! 



17 



XIV 



Some says no money down ud buy that bird 

o' Doc. — Ner no 
Inducement to the bird, says I, 'at he 'd let 

Sifers go ! 
And Doc he say 'at he 's content — long as 

a bird o' prey 
Kin 'bide him, it 's a compliment, and takes 

it thataway. 



xv 

But, gittin' back to docteriri — all the sick and 

in distress, 
And old and pore, and weak and small, and 

lone and motherless, — 
I jes tell you I 'predate the man 'at 's got 

the love 
To "go ye forth and ministrate!" as Scriptur' 

tells us of. 



XVI 

Dull times, Doc jes inlanders round, in that old 

rig o' his : 
And hain't no tellin' where he 's bound ner 

guessin' where he is; 
He '11 drive, they tell, jes thataway fer maybe 

six er eight 
Days at a stretch; and neighbers say he 's 

bin clean round the State. 



XVII 

He picked a' old tramp up, one trip, 'bout 

eighty mile'd from here, 
And fetched him home and k-yored his hip, 

and kep' him 'bout a year; 
And feller said — in all his ja'nts round this 

terreschul ball 
'At no man wuz a circumstance to Doc! — he 

topped 'em all ! — 



21 



XVIII 



Said, bark o' trees 's a' open book to Doc, and 
vines and moss 

He read like writin' — with a look knowed ever' 
dot and cross : 

Said, stars at night wuz jes as good 's a com- 
pass : said, he s'pose 

You could n't lose Doc in the woods the 
darkest night that blows ! 



XIX 

Said, Doc '11 tell you, purty clos't, by under- 

bresh and plants, 
How fur off warter is, — and 'most perdict the 

sort o' chance 
You '11 have o' findin' fish ; and how they 're 

liable to bite, 
And whether they 're a-bitin' now, er only 

after night. 



22 



XX 



And, whilse we 're talkin' fish, — I mind they 

formed a fishin' -crowd 
(When folks could fish 'thout gittin' fined, and 

seinin' wuz allowed!) 
O' leadin' citizens, you know, to go and seine 

" Old Blue "— 
But had n't no big seine, and so — w'y, what 

wuz they to do ? . . . 



XXI 

And Doc he say he thought 'at he could knit 

a stitch er two — 
"Bring the materials to me — 'at 's all I 'm 

astin' you ! " 
And down he sets — six weeks, i jing ! and 

knits that seine plum done — 
Made corks too, brails and ever' thing — good 

as a boughten one ! 




taghhi 




25 



XXII 



Doc 's public sperit — when the sick 's not 

takin' all his time 
And he 's got some fer politics — is simple yit 

sublime : — 
He '11 talk his principles — and they air honest; — 

but the sly 
Friend strikes him first, election-day, he 'd 

'commodate, er die ! 

XXIII 

And yit, though Doc, as all men knows, is 

square straight up and down, 
That vote o' his is — well, I s'pose — the 

cheapest one in town ; — 
A fact 'at 's sad to verify, as could be done on 

oath — 
I 've voted Doc myse'f — And I was criminal 

fer both ! 



26 



XXIV 



You kin corrupt the ballot-box — corrupt your- 
self, as well — 

Corrupt some neighbers, — but old Doc 's as 
oircorruptible 

As Holy Writ. So putt a pin right there ! — 
Let Sifers be, 

I jucks ! he would n't vote agin his own worst 
inimy ! 

xxv 

When Cynthy Eubanks laid so low with fever, 

and Doc Glenn 
Told Euby Cynth 'ud haf to go — they sends 

fer Sifers then ! . . . 
Doc sized the case : " She 's starved," says 

he, "fer warier — yes, and meat! 
The treatment 'at she '11 git from me 's all 

she kin drink and eat!" 



29 



XXVI 



He orders Euby then to split some wood, 
and take and build 

A fire in kitchen-stove, and git a young spring- 
chicken killed; 

And jes whirled in and th'owed his hat and 
coat there on the bed, 

And warshed his hands and sailed in that-air 
kitchen, Euby said, 

XXVII 

And biled that chicken-broth, and got that 

dinner — all complete 

And clean and crisp and good and hot as 

mortal ever eat ! 

And Cynth and Euby both '11 say 'at Doc '11 

git as good 

Meals-vittles up, jes any day, as any woman 

could ! 



3Q 



XXVIII 



Time Sister Abbick tuk so bad with striffen 

o' the lung, 
P'tracted Meetin', where she had jes shouted, 

prayed and sung 
All winter long, through snow and thaw, — 

when Sifers come, says he : 
"No* M'lissy; don't poke out your raw and 

cloven tongue at me ! — 



XXIX 

" I know, without no symptoms but them 
inja ru bber- shoes 

You promised me to never putt a fool-foot in 
ner use 

At purril o' your life ! " he said. " And I 
won't save you now, 

Onless — here on your dyin' bed — you con- 
secrate your vow ! " 



3i 



XXX 



Without a-claimin' any creed, Doc's rail reli- 
gious views 

Nobody knows — ner got no need o' knowin' 
whilse he choose 

To be heerd not of man, ner raise no loud, 
vainglorious prayers 

In crowded marts, er public ways, er — i jucks, 
anywheres ! — 




32 



XXXI 



'Less 'n it is away deep down in his own 

heart, at night, 
Facin' the storm, when all the town 's a-sleep- 

in 1 snug and tight — 
Him splashin' hence from scenes o' pride and 

sloth and gilded show, 
To some pore sufferer's bedside o' anguish, 

don't you know ! 

XXXII 

Er maybe dead o' winter — makes no odds to 

Doc, — he 's got 
To face the weather ef it takes the hide off! 

'cause he '11 not 
Lie out o' goin' and p'tend he 's sick hisse'f 

— like some 
'At I could name 'at folks might send fer 

and they 'd never come ! 



35 



XXXIII 



Like pore Phin Hoover — when he goes to 

that last dance o' his ! 
That Chris'mus when his feet wuz froze — and 

Doc saved all they is 
Left of 'em — '"Nough," as Phin say now, 

" to track me by, and be 
A adver^'^ment, anyhow, o' what Doc 's done 

fer me ! — 



XXXIV 

"When he come — knife-and-saw " — Phin say, 

" I knowed, ef I 'd the spunk, 
'At Doc 'ud fix me up some way, ef nothin' 

but my trunk 
Wuz left, he 'd fasten casters in, and have 

me, spick-and-span, 
A-skootin' round the streets ag'in as spry as 

any man ! " 



36 



XXXV 

Doc sees a patient 's got to quit — he '11 ease 

him down serene 
As dozin' off to sleep, and yit not dope him 

with mor -fifteen. — 
He won't tell what — jes 'lows 'at he has " airn't 

the right to sing 
'O grave, where is thy victery! O death, 

where is thy sting!'" 

XXXVI 

And, mind ye now ! — it 's not in scoff and 

scorn, by long degree, 
'At Doc gits things like that-un off: it 's jes 

his shority 
And total faith in Life to Come, — w'y, " from 

that Land o' Bliss," 
He says, " we '11 haf to chuckle some, a-lookin' 

back at this ! " 



! I ^A it 



"<\ Si'li^W"' 



'iSR 



«ti^.-;^ 














XXXVII 



And, still in p'int, I mind, one night d initi- 
ation at 

Some secert lodge, 'at Doc set right down on 
'em, square and flat, 

When they mixed up some Scriptur' and wuz 
funnin'-like — w'y, he 

Lit in 'em with a rep'imand 'at ripped 'em, 
A to Z! 



4o 



XXXVIII 



And onc't — when gineral loafin'-place wuz 

old Shoe-Shop — = and all 
The gang 'ud git in there and brace their 

backs ag'inst the wall 
And settle questions that had went onsettled 

long enough, — 
Like "wuz no Heav'n — ner no torment" — 

jes talkiri awful rough ! 




4i 



XXXIX 



There wuz Sloke Haines and old Ike Knight 

and Coonrod Simmes — all three 
Ag'inst the Bible and the Light, and scoutin' 

Deity. 
"Science" says Ike, "it dimonstrates — it 

takes nobody's word — 
Scriptnr' er not, — it 'vestigates ef sich things 

could occurred ! " 



XL 

Well, Doc he heerd this, — he 'd drapped in 

a minute, fer to git 
A tore-off heel pegged on agin, — and, as he 

stood on it 
And stomped and grinned, he says to Ike, 

" I s'pose now, purty soon 
Some lightnin'-bug, indignant-like, '11 ' 'vesti- 

gate ' the moon ! . . . . 



I 



42 



XLI 



" No, Ike," says Doc, " this world hain't saw- 
no brains like yourn and mine 

With sense enough to grasp a law 'at takes a 
brain divine. — 

I 've bared the thoughts of brains in doubt, 
and felt their finest pulse, — 

And mortal brains jes won't turn out omni- 
potent results ! " 

XLII 

And Doc he 's got respects to spare the rich 

as well as pore — 
Says he, " I 'd turn no millionaire onsheltered 

from my door." — 
Says he, "What 's wealth to him in quest o' 

honest friends to back 
And love him fer hissef? — not jes because 

he 's made his jack ! " 



45 




XLIII 



And childern. — Childern? Lawzy-day ! Doc 

vvorships 'em ! — You call 
Round at his house and ast 'em ! — they 're 

di-swarmin' there — that 's all ! — 
They 're in his Lib'vy — in best room — in 

kitchen — fur and near, — 
In office too, and, I p'sume, his operatin'- 

cheer ! 



46 



XLIV 



You know they 's men 'at bees won't sting? — 

They 's plaguey few, — but Doc 
He 's one o' them. — And same, i jing ! with 

childern ; — they jes flock 
Kound Sifers natchurl ! — in his lap, and in 

his pockets, too, 
And in his old fur mitts and cap, and heart as 

warm and true ! 



XLV 

It 's cur'ous, too, — 'cause Doc hain't got no 
childern of his own — 

'Ceptin' the ones he 's tuk and brought up, 
'at 's bin left alone 

And orphans when their father died, er mo- 
ther, — and Doc he 

Has he'pped their dyin' satisfied. — "The child 
shall live with me 



: 5 •* ; -- 



./■ 




-*£4, 









49 




XLVI 



"And Winniferd, my wife," he 'd say, and 
stop right there, and cle'r 

His th'oat, and go on thinkin' way some mo- 
ther-hearts down here 

Can't never feel their own babe's face a-pressin' 
'em, ner make 

Their naked breasts a restin'-place fer any 
baby's sake. 



5© 



XLVII 



Doc's Lib'ry — as he calls it, — well, they 's 

ha'f-a-dozen she'ves 
Jam-full o' books — I could n't tell how many 

— -count yourse'ves ! 
One whole she'f's Works on Medicine! and 

most the rest 's about 
First Settlement, and Indians in here, — 'fore 

we driv 'em out. — 



XLVIII 

And Plutarch's Lives — and life also o' Dan'el 

Boone, and this- 
Here Mungo Park, and Adam Poe — jes all 

the lives they is ! 
And Doc 's got all the novels out, — by Scott 

and Dickison 
And Cooper. — And, I make no doubt, he 's 

read 'em ever' one ! 




PoC\S 

1*5 b rv 



53 



XLIX 



Onc't, in his office, settin' there, with crowd 

o' eight er nine 
Old neighbers with the time to spare, and 

Doc a-feelin' fine, 
A man rid up from Rollins, jes fer Doc to 

write him out 
Some blame p'scription — done, I guess, in 

minute, nigh about. — 




54 



And / says, "Doc, you 'pear so spry, jes 

write me that r'ecei't 
You have fer bein' happy by, — fer that 'u'd 

shorely beat 
Your medicine / " says I. — And quick as s'cat! 

Doc turned and writ 
And handed me : " Go he'p the sick, and putt 

your heart in it." 



LI 

And then, "A-talkin' furder 'bout that line 

o' thought," says he, 
" Ef we ']1 jes do the work cut out and give' 

to you and me, 
We '11 lack no joy, ner appetite, ner all we 'd 

ort to eat, 
And sleep like childern ever' night — as puore 

and ca'm and sweet." 



■ 55 



LII 



Doc has bin 'cused o' offishness and lack o' 

talkin' free 
And extry friendly ; but he says, " I 'm 'feard 

talk," says he, — 

"I 've got," he says, "a natchurl turn fer talk- 
in' fit to kill. — 

The best and hardest thing to learn is trick 
o' keepin' still." 

LIII 

Doc kin smoke, and I s'pose he might drink 

licker — jes fer fun. 
He says, " You smoke, you drink all right ; but 

1 don't — neether one " — 

Says, "I like whiskey — 'good old rye' — but 

like it in its place, 
Like that-air warter in your eye, er nose there 

on your face." 



56 



LIV 



Doc 's bound to have his joke ! The day he 

got that off on 'me 
I jes had sold a load o' hay at " Scofield's 

Livery," 
And tolled Doc in the shed they kep' the 

hears't in, where I 'd hid 
The stuff 'at got me " out o' step," as Sifers 

said it did. 



LV 

Doc hain't, to say, no "rolliri stone," and yit he 

hain't no hand 
Fer ' cwnulatin' . — Home 's his own, and scrap 

o' farmin'-land — 
Enough to keep him out the way when folks 

is tuk down sick 
The suddentest — 'most any day they want him 

'special quick. 



59 



LVI 



And yit Doc loves his practice ; ner don't, wil- 
ful, want to slight 

No call — no matter who — how fur away — er 
day er night. — 

He loves his work — he loves his friends — 
June, Winter, Fall, and Spring: 

His lovin' — facts is — never ends; he loves jes 
everthing. . . . 

LVII 

'Cept — keepiu' books. He never sets down no 

accounts. — He hates, 
The worst of all, collectin' debts — the worst, 

the more he waits. — 
I 've knowed him, when at last he had to dun 

a man, to end 
By makin' him a loan — and mad he had n't 

more to lend. 



6o 



LVIII 



When Pence's Drug Store ust to be in full 

blast, they wuz some 
Doc's patients got things frekantly there, 

charged to him, i gum ! — 
Doc run a bill there, don't you know, and alius 

when he squared, 
He never questioned nothin', — so he had his 

feelin's spared. 



Lix 

Now sich as that, I hold and claim, hain't 

' scusable — it 's not 
Perfessional ! — It 's jes a shame 'at Doc his- 

se'f hain't got 
No better b?ismess-sense ! That 's why lots 'd 

respect him more, 
And not give him the clean go-by fer other 

doctors. Shore ! 



63 



LX 



This-here Doc Glenn, fer instance; er this little 
jack -leg Hall ; — 

They 're business — folks respects 'em fer their 
business more 'n all 

They ever knowed, er ever will, 'bout medi- 
cine. — Yit they 

Collect their money, k-yore er kill. — They 're 
business, anyway ! 




64 



LXI 

You ast Jake Dunn; — he 's worked it out in 

jiggers. — He kin show 
Stastistics how Doc 's airnt about three fortunes 

in .a row, — 
Ever' ten-year' hand-runnin' straight — three 

of 'em — thirty year' 
'At Jake kin count and 'lucidate o' Sifers' 

practice here. 

LXII 

Yit — "Praise the Lord," says Doc, "we 've 

got our little home!" says he — 
"(It 's railly Winniferd's, but what she owns, 

she sheers with me.) 
We' got our little gyarden-spot, and peach- 

and apple-trees, 
And stable, too, and chicken-lot, and eighteen 

hive' o' bees." 




ifr l 



6 7 



LXIII 

You call it anything you please, but it 's 

witchcraft — the power 
'At Sifers has o' handlin' bees ! — He '11 watch 

'em by the hour — 
Mix right amongst 'em, mad and hot and 

swarmin' ! — yit they won't 
Sting him, er want to — 'pear to not, — at least 

I know they don't. 

LXIV 

With me and bees they 's no fttense o' social- 

biiity — 
A dad-burn bee 'u'd climb a fence to git a 

whack at me! 
I s'pose no thing 'at 's got a sting is railly 

satisfied 
It 's sharp enough, ontel, i jing! he 's honed 

it on my hide ! 



68 



LXV 



And Doc he 's , alius had a knack inventiri 

things. — Dee-vised 
A windlass wound its own se'f back as it run 

down : and s'prised 
Their new hired girl with clothes-line, too, and 

clothes-pins, all in one : 
Purt'-nigh all left fer her to do wuz git her 

primpin' done ! 

LXVI 

And onc't, I mind, in airly Spring, and tappin' 
sugar-trees, 

Doc made a dad-burn little thing to sharpen 
spiles with — these- 

Here wood'-spouts 'at the peth 's punched out, 
and driv' in where they bore 

The auger-holes. He sharpened 'bout a mil- 
lion spiles er more ! 



-"• * 



• * 





;i 




LXVII 



And Doc 's the first man ever swung a bucket 

on a tree 
Instid o' troughs; and first man brung grained 

sugar — so 's 'at he 
Could use it fer his coffee, and fer cookin', 

don't you know. — 
Folks come clean up from Pleasantland 'fore 

they 'd believe it, though ! 



72 



LXVIII 



And all Doc's stable-doors cwlocks and locks 
theirseves — and gates 

The same way ; — all rigged up like clocks, with 
pulleys, wheels, and weights, — 

So, 's Doc says, " drivin' out, er in, they '11 
open; and they '11 then. 

All quiet-like, shet up ag'in like little gentle- 
men ! " 

LXIX 

And Doc 'ud made a mighty good detective. — 

Neighbers all 
Will testify to that — er could, ef they wuz 

legal call : 
His theories on any crime is worth your 

listenin' to. — 
And he has hit 'em, many a time, 'long 'fore 

established true. 



75 



LXX 



At this youngf druggist Wenfield Pence's trial 

fer his life, 
On primy faishy evidence o' pizonin' his 

wife, 
Doc's testimony saved and cle'red and 'quitted 

him and freed 
Him so 's he never even 'peared cog-^/zant 

of the deed ! 



LXXI 

The facts wuz — Sifers testified, — at inquest he 

had found 
The stummick showed the woman died o' 

pizon, but had downed 
The dos't herself, — because amount and cost 

o' drug imployed 
No druggist would, on no account, a-lavished 

and distroyed ! 



7 6 



LXXII 

Doc tracked a blame-don burgler down, and 

nailed the scamp, to boot, 
But told him ef he 'd leave the town he 

would n't prosecute. 
He traced him by a tied-up thumb-print in 

fresh putty, where 
Doc glazed it. Jes that 's how he come to 

track him to his lair ! 



LXXIII 

Doc 's jes a leetle too inclined, some thinks, 
to overlook 

The criminal and vicious kind we 'd ort to 
bring to book 

And punish, 'thout no extry show o' sympa- 
thizing, where 

They hain't showed none fer us, you know. 
But he takes issue there : 



79 




LXXIV 



Doc argies 'at "The Red-eyed Law," as he 
says, " ort to learn 

To lay a mighty leenient paw on deeds o' sich 
concern 

As only the Good Bein' knows the wherefore 
of, and spreads 

His hands above accused and sows His mer- 
cies on their heads." 



8o 



LXXV 

Doc even holds 'at murder hain't no crime we 
got a right 

To hang a man fer — claims it 's taint o' lu- 
nacy, er quite. — 

" Hold sick a man responsibul fer murder," 
Doc says, — "then, 

When he 's hung, where 's the rope to pull 
them sound-mind jurymen ? 

LXXVI 

"It 's irt a nutshell — all kin see," says Doc, — 

" it 's cle'r the Law 's 
As ap' to err as you er me, and kill without 

a cause : 
The man most innocent o' sin / 've saw, er 

'sped to see, 
Wuz servin' a life-sentence in the peniten- 

tchury." 



83 



LXXVII 

\ 

And Doc 's a whole hand at ajire/ — directin' 

how and where 

To set your ladders, low er higher, and what 
first duties air, — 

Like formin' warter-bucket-line ; and best man 
in the town 

To chop holes in old roofs, and mine defec- 
tive chimblies down : 



LXXVIII 

-Er durin' any public crowd, mass-meetin', er 

big day, 
Where ladies ort n't be allowed, as I 've heerd 

Sifers say, — 
When they 's a suddent rush somewhere, it 's 

Doc's voice, ca'm and cle'r, 
Says, "Fall back, men, and give her air! — 

that 's all she 's faintin' fer." 



8 4 




LXXIX 



The sorriest I ever feel fer Doc is when some 

show 
Er circus comes to town and he '11 not git a 

chance to go. 
'Cause he jes natchurly flights in circuses — 

clean down 
From tumblers, in their spangled tights, to 

trick-mule and Old Clown. 



85 



LXXX 

And ever'body knows it, too, how Doc is, 

thataway ! . . . . 
I mind a circus onc't come through — wuz 

there myse'f that day. — 
Ringmaster cracked his whip, you know, to 

start the ridin' — when 
In runs Old Clown and hollers " Whoa ! — 

Ladies and gentlemen 

LXXXI 

" Of this vast audience, I fain would make 

inquiry cle'r, 
And learn, find out, and ascertain — Is Doctor 

Sifers here ? " 
And when some fool-voice bellers down : 

" He is ! He 's settin' in 
Full view o' ye ! " " Then," says the Clown, 

" the circus may begin ! " 

6* 



86 



LXXXII 



Doc 's got a temper ; but, he says, he 's 

learnt it which' is boss, 
Yit has to watch it, more er less. ... I 

never seen him cross 
But onc't, enough to make him swear ; — 

milch-cow stepped on his toe, 
And Doc ripped out " / doggies ! " — There 's 

the only case I know. 

LXXXIII 

Doc says that 's what your temper 's fer — 

to hold back out o' view, 
And learn it never to occur on out ahead o' 

you. — 
" You lead the way," says Sifers — "git your 

temper back in line — 
And furdest back the best, ef it 's as mean a 



one as mine 



8 9 



LXXXIV 

He hates contentions — can't abide a wrangle 

er dispute 
O' any kind ; and he 'ull slide out of a crowd 

and skoot 
Up some back-alley 'fore he '11 stand and 

listen to a furse 
When ary one 's got upper-hand and t' other 

one 's got worse. 

LXXXV 

Doc says : " I 'spise, when pore and weak and 
awk'ard talkers fails, 

To see it 's them with hardest cheek and loud- 
est mouth prevails. — 

A' all-one-sided quarr'l '11 make me biased, 
mighty near, — 

'Cause ginerly the side I take 's the one I 
never hear." 



90 



LXXXVI 

What 'peals to Doc the most and best is 

"seein' folks agreed, 
And takin' ekal interest and universal heed 
O' ever'body else 's words and idies — same as 

we 
Wuz glad and chirpy as the birds — jes as 

we 'd ort to be ! " 



LXXXVII 

And paterotic ! Like to git Doc started, full 

and fair, 
About the war, and why 't 'uz fit, and what 

wuz 'complished there ; 
" And who wuz wrong," says Doc, " er right, 

't 'uz waste o' blood and tears, 
All prophesied in Black and White fer years 

and years and years ! " 



93 



LXXXVIII 

And then he '11 likely kind o' tetch on old John 

Brown, and dwell 
On what his warnin's wuz ; and ketch his 

breath and cough, and tell 
On down to Lincoln's death. And then — 

well, he jes chokes and quits 
With "I must go now, gentlemen!" and grabs 

his hat, and gits! 

LXXXIX 

Doc's own war-rickord wuz n't won so much 

in line o' fight 
As line o' work and nussin' done the wownded, 

day and night. — 
His wuz the hand, through dark and dawn, 'at 

bound their wownds, and laid 
As soft as their own mother's on their for- 

reds when they prayed. . . . 



94 



xc 



His wuz the face they saw the first — all dim, 

but smilin' bright, 
As they come to and knowed the worst, yit 

saw the old Red- W kite - 
And-Blue where Doc had fixed it where 

they 'd see it zuaviu' still, 
Out through the open tent-flap there, er 

'cros't the winder-sill. 



xci 

And some 's a-limpin' round here yit — 

a-waitin' Last Review, — 
'U'd give the pensions 'at they git, and pawn 

their crutches, too, 
To he'p Doc out, ef he wuz pressed financial' — 

same as he 
Has alius he'pped them when distressed — ner 

never tuk a fee. 



97 






, 14% : fVi 




—J ^i^ 



xcn 



Doc never wuz much hand to pay attention 

to p'teucc 
And fuss-and-feathers and display in men o' 

prominence : 
"A railly great man," Sifers 'lows, "is not the 

out'ard dressed — 
All uniform, salutes and bows, and swellin' 

out his chest. 



98 



XCIII 

" I met a great man onc't," Doc says, " and 

shuk his hand," says he, 
" And lie come 'bout in one, I guess, o' dis- 

app'intin' me — 
He talked so common-like, and brought his 

mind so cle'r in view 
And simple-like, I purt'-nigh thought, ' / 'm 

best man o' the two ! ' " 



xciv 

Yes-sz'r / Doc 's got convictions and old-fash- 
ioned kind o' ways 

And idies 'bout this glorious Land o' Freedom; 
and he '11 raise 

His hat clean off, no matter where, jes ever' 
time he sees 

The Stars and Stripes a-floatin' there and flap- 
pin' in the breeze. 



IOI 



xcv 



And tunes like old " Red, White and Blue " '11 

fairly drive him wild, 
Played on the brass band, marchin' through 

the streets ! Jes like a child 
I 've saw that man, his smile jes set, all kind o' 

pale and white, 
Bare-headed, and his eyes all wet, yit dancin' 

with delight ! 

XCVI 

And yit, that very man we see all trimbly, 

pale and wann, 
Give him a case o' surgery, we '11 see another 

man ! — 
We '11 do the trimblin' then, and we '11 git 

white around the gills — 
He '11 show us nerve o' nerves, and he 'ull show 

us skill o' skills! 



102 



XCVII 



Then you could toot your horns and beat 

your drums and bang your guns, 
And wave your flags and march the street, 

and charge, all Freedom's sons ! — 
And Sifers then, I bet my hat, 'u'd never flinch 

a hair, 
But, stiddy-handed, 'tend to that pore patient 

layin' there. 

XCVIII 

And Sifers' eye 's as stiddy as that hand o' 

his ! — He '11 shoot 
A' old-style rifle, like he has, and smallest 

bore, to boot, 
With any fancy rifles made to-day, er expert 

shot 
'At works at shootin' like a trade — and all 

some of 'em 's got ! 



io5 



XCIX 



Let 'em go right out in the woods with Doc, 

and leave their " traps " 
And blame glass-balls and queensware-goods, 

and see how Sifers draps 
A squirrel out the tallest tree. — And 'fore he 

fires he '11 say 
Jes where he '11 hit him — yes, %\x-ce! And 

he 's hit thataway ! 



Let 'em go out with him, i jucks ! with fishin'- 

pole and gun, — 
And ekal chances, fish and ducks, and take 

the rain, er sun, 
Jes as it pours, er as it blinds the eye-sight; 

then, I guess, 
'At they 'd acknowledge, in their minds, their 

disadvantages. 



io6 



ci 



And yit he 'd be the last man out to flop his 

wings and crow 
Insultin'-like, and strut about above his fallen 

foe! — 
No-sir/ the hand 'at tuk the wind out o' 

their sails 'ud be 
The very first they grabbed, and grinned to 

feel sich sympathy. 



CTI 

Doc gits off now and then and takes a huntin'- 
trip somewhere 

'Bout Kankakee, up 'mongst the lakes — some- 
times '11 drift round there 

In his canoe a week er two ; then paddle clean 
on back 

By way o' old Wabash and Blue, with fish — 
all he kin pack, — 



io8 



cm 



And wild ducks — some with feathers on 'em 

yit, and stuffed with grass. 
And neighbers — all knows he 's bin gone — 

comes round and gits a bass — 
A great big double-breasted "rock," er "black," 

er maybe pair 
Half fills a' ordinary crock. . . . Doc's fish '11 

give out there 



CIV 

Long 'fore his ducks! — But folks '11 smile and 

blandish him, and make 
Him tell and tell things! — all the while enjoy 

'em jes fer sake 
O' pleasin' him ; and then turn in and la'nch 

him from the start 
A-tellin' all the things ag'in they railly know 

by heart. 



I II 



cv 



He 's jes a child, 's what Sifers is ! And- 

sir, I 'd ruther see 
That happy, childish face o' his, and puore 

simplicity, 
Than any shape er style er plan o' mortals 

otherwise — 
With perfect faith in God and man a-shinin' 

in his eyes. 




Tamam. 



